Analysts expect banks will continue to boost the amount small oil companies can borrow under certain corporate loans this spring during a semiannual reassessment of the value of oil and gas reserves, which could spur more drilling.

"The more you have, the more comfortable you are to start drilling," said Jason Wangler, an analyst at Wunderlich Securities in Houston, referring to cash. Oil prices have fluctuated in recent weeks, but lenders appear cautiously optimistic about the industry's prospects, he added.

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During the downturn, banks downgraded billions in energy loans and virtually stopped issuing new ones as drillers and service companies wrestled to keep up with interest payments amid falling revenues. They also sharply cut so-called borrowing bases, the amount oil companies can borrow under revolving credit facilities, a kind of corporate loan from which drillers can borrow, pay back and borrow again.

That would be a stark change from this time last year, when lenders cut back on these loans, reducing their exposure to the energy industry as more than 200 North American oil companies and oil field service companies filed for bankruptcy.

Oasis Petroleum said Thursday that lenders boosted its borrowing base nearly 40 percent from $1.15 billion to $1.6 billion. The increase came in part because of the company's acquisition last year of 55,000 net acres in the Williston Basin in North Dakota.

Ultra Petroleum said its borrowing base was raised 20 percent from $1 billion to $1.2 billion, an increase connected to its emergence from bankruptcy this week. The Houston oil producer also raised nearly $3 billion to pay off creditors and began trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

Though these credit lines aren't typically tied directly to drilling programs, the increased borrowing bases could give U.S. drillers more fuel to send rigs back into oil fields, analysts said.

So far, the nation's active drilling rig fleet has climbed to 847, more than double the low of 404 reached last May. In Texas, the rig count has increased to 419, up from 173 at its lowest point last summer, Baker Hughes said Thursday.

Wildhorse Chairman and CEO Jay Graham said in a statement that with an increase in its borrowing base, the company "has even more flexibility in funding its 2017 development program."